PC Money Account Review

PC Financial is back in the business of banking with its PC Money Account. Instead of focusing on high interest rates (like every other digital bank), the PC Money Account combines no fees with PC Optimum. In other words, instead of earning interest on your savings, you’ll earn PC Optimum points whenever you use your PC Money Account.

You’ll naturally think of the PC Money Account as a bank account and compare it to some of the best high interest savings accounts in Canada. However, when you look at the features, it acts more like a prepaid credit card with much better benefits. Read my PC Money Account review now for all the details.

PC Money Account benefits

• No monthly fees
• Up to 50,000 PC Optimum points welcome bonus
• Unlimited everyday transactions
• 10 PC Optimum points on every dollar you spend anywhere you shop
• 25 PC Optimum points per dollar spent at Shoppers Drug Mart
• Free Interac e-transfers
• Free cash withdrawals at PC Financial ATMs across Canada
• Personalized savings goals 
• Optional Overdraft Protection
• CDIC Protection on eligible deposits
• 24/7 fraud detection and support

Ever since PC Financial split from CIBC, it was only a matter of time before PC Financial got back into online banking. The arrival of the PC Money Account is very interesting since it allows you to earn PC Optimum points on all purchases made with your PC Money Account Mastercard.

Money is deposited into your account by linking one of your external bank accounts or sending yourself an Interac e-Transfer. Once that money is in your account, you’ll be able to use the funds with your PC Money Account Mastercard.

This essentially makes the PC Money Account a prepaid Mastercard that earns you PC Optimum points on all your purchases. Since the earn rate is 25 PC Optimum points for every dollar spent at Shoppers Drug Mart and 10 PC Optimum points per $1 spent on all other purchases, your earn rate is 2.5% and 1% respectively.

Even though the PC Money Account is similar to a prepaid credit card, you can still go into overdraft which would trigger a $40 Non-sufficient funds (NSF) fee.

Since the PC World Mastercard and the PC World Elite Mastercard offer you a better earn rate, the PC Money Account is ideal for people who don’t like using credit cards or can’t get a credit card.

Free Interac e-transfers are pretty standard from digital banks these days, but with the Money Account, you can withdraw cash from any PC Financial ATM in Canada without having to pay a fee. You can use other ATMs to withdraw funds too, but it comes with a fee of $1.50 in Canada or $3 for international ATMs (plus a 2.5% currency exchange fee).

The PC Money Account comes from PC Financial and is issued under President’s Choice Bank. Since President’s Choice Bank is a CDIC member, your money is insured up to $100,000 per eligible account.

PC Money Account welcome bonus

• 10,000 PC Optimum points when you link an external account
• 10,000 PC Optimum points after your first purchase over $50
• 25,000 PC Optimum points when you set up a direct payroll deposit for at least 3 months
• 1,000 PC Optimum points for each of up to five bill payments of $50 or more to unique payees, each month

That’s a total of 50,000 PC Optimum points you can earn as a welcome bonus which has a real value of $50. While that’s not really as impressive as some of the best travel credit cards in Canada, we’re talking about no fee bank account here.

How the PC Money Account compares to others

It’s natural to want to compare the PC Money Account to Tangerine or Simplii since they’re online bank accounts that have debit cards, but I really don’t see them as being similar products.

Since I feel like the PC Money Account is more like a prepaid credit card, you’ll want to compare to KOHO and STACK which both have similar features.

	PC Money Account	KOHO	STACK
Fees	None	None / $84 annually for premium	None
Earn rate	Up to 2.5% in PC Optimum points	.5% cash back / Up to 2% premium	None, special offers only
ATM fees	Free at PC Financial	$2-$3	ATM vendor fees only
Forex fees	2.50%	1.50% / none for premium	none

A quick comparison shows that the PC Money Account comes out ahead as your base earn rate is 1% in PC Optimum points compared to KOHO where you’ll earn .5% in cash back. STACK does merchant bonuses instead of an earn rate, but they’re arguably the best for travelling and foreign currency purchases since they have no forex fees.

The one key thing to note with the PC Money Account is that you earn PC Optimum Points. That means you can only redeem your points for groceries or merchandise at specific stores. Cash back earned via KOHO can obviously be used anywhere you want. I personally don’t think this is a dealbreaker, but it’s something to be aware of.

Final thoughts

My PC Money Account Review is positive. Although you won’t earn any interest on your savings, this account is not designed for that purpose. People who don’t like to use credit cards but want to earn rewards will likely love this account, especially if they already collect PC Optimum points.